Compromised
by AvalonM.xxx
Summary: Clint made a different call back in Budapest. His excuse? He was compromised. xx First fanfiction so I'm totally new at this. Read and Reveiw. Rated as it may develop later
1. Chapter 1

Natasha

I turn to the skylight sending a beam of moonlight into the dark appartement. I can feel someone there. I don't know who, but I know it's someone. I check the trip wires on the window and scan the room for a place to hide. This guy is good, I can tell. I run to the doorway and slip into the tiny gap under the small coffee table covered by a cloth. I'm can't lie; I'm scared. I left my weapons with Them. I never planned to leave. It was as sudden decision. I managed to grab a pistol and some bullets and I had a hidden dagger on me but this man tailing me is heavily armed. I suspect that he's a sniper from how he was tailing me a week ago. I thought I had lost him. Apparently not.

I can hear muttering from the skylight. He's found the tripwire then. They've sent him for me. They're punishing me for running, I can't go back. A soft thud sounds from the other room. I stop breathing. I can hear him turn, looking for me in the other room.

"Hello? I know you're here." He says in an American accent. "Can I help myself to a drink then? Okay, thanks. You want one too?" He adds sarcastically. I don't reply. "Fond of Vodka? Course you are, you're Russian." He jokes. I note how he says 'russian' meaning he definitely isn't. I also note that he's obviously read my profile. "You gonna come out and say hi or are you going to force me to talk to mid-air?" He asks, of course I don't reply. "As far as this career goes we're actually old friends. Rio? 2003? You we're actually tracking the man I was sent to kill. We met briefly. Rafael Garcia's annual ball?" He reminds me. I refrain from slapping myself on the head. I knew his voice was familiar. So They obviously didn't send him and judging by his accent he is a real American.

"How do you know that?" I ask deciding to speak but projecting my voice around the room so he can't tell where I am.

"I know, because I was there... Valentina Gomez" He tests. I stop at the fake identity before I speak again.

"James Taylor?" I reply. He laughs at that and I hear him sit down at the table carefully checking for traps first.

"Well now we've got that settled, can you stop doing that voice thing it's creepy?" He requests. Now I have to keep doing it then I think to myself. "I've been sent to kill you." That kind of broke the mood. I stop breathing again. What am I going to do anyway, live in fear for the rest of my life? I seriously consider coming out and letting him shoot me. "But, I can't." He sighs. "I see myself in you. This was me a few years back. So, as much as Fury's going to yell at me for this, I'm offering you a second chance to start new with SHIELD, Natalia." At this point the spy in me has a heart attack. He knows my name. Then I take in what he said and slip out of the table. As I round the corner I see that he's talking to the ceiling with his eyes closed. What type of spy is he? Not on edge, not caring about his surroundings, and most of all he looks trustworthy. I clear my throat and he open's his sea blue eyes. Just as I remember them.

"I'll consider it." I reply, not exactly a straight answer but he nods anyway.

"That's all I'm asking, Nat." He comments and is gone before I know it. No one's ever given me nickname before. But I kind of liked it. I glance at the table and see he really did make me a glass of vodka. I can't help smiling and when I scan it I see it's not even poisoned. I laugh to myself and take a sip. What type of spy makes his target a drink? What type of spy bothers? But this agent, this agent won't leave my head. My heart is beating fast and my palms are sweating and to be completely honest, which is rather new, I have no idea what to do about it.

Clint

I give her a wink before I leave and quickly return to my nest across the road. Closer than usual but I didn't mind right now. I turn in time to see her look at the table and smile at the drink I made her. I return her smile before truly realising she can't see me. I think I've done enough for today. That's when the romance of me watching her through the window and Fury starts screaming down my coms unit.

"What the Heck was that Agent Barton? Your job is to kill her not invite her back for a coffee and a chat." He shouts. I'm not listening to him but listening to Natalia or Natasha as SHIELD call her sing in russian as she packs her things. "What makes her so special you idiot?" Fury rants.

"Everything." I reply turning off the coms unit as Fury yells at someone to come get me. I focus back on Natasha packing. Wait what? Why exactly was the black widow packing? I suddenly wish I hadn't turned off the coms unit. 'Okay, Clint. Focus. This is a mission not a romantic vacation. Shut up and get your brain in order. It's just a girl.' The Hawkeye in me scorns. The Clint in me replies 'No, It's Natasha'. It's quiet, almost silent but it's there and I'm trying everything to ignore it.

I have to make this work or somebody is going to come for her. What I said to her was true. When I saw her that first time in Rio and once again in Puerto Rico, although she doesn't know about that, I saw myself. I looked at her and I saw myself staring back. I got a hell of a lecture when I got back from Phil. My excuse? I was compromised.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Just saying thank you for all those who followed this and favourited it and a special thank you to jinxcharm for being my first review on my first fanfiction. This ones a little shorter so I apologise for that but there's a bit of action. Read and Review and I'll try to get another chapter up A.S.A.P. **

**- Avalon**

* * *

Natasha

A day later I find myself hiding in a flat in the centre of Berlin. Right now the sniper tracking me is the very least of my worries. They've sent two men into Berlin to get me and right now they're doing a good job of it.

"Come out, come out little widow." One of them taunts from the main room. I can here the other searching the bedroom and it'll only be a matter of time before they get to the bathroom. The latch on the small window is stiff with rust and white paint and isn't giving very easily. I hear a door slam, probably the kitchen, and the first one groan. The latch breaks and the window swings open. I have to squeeze through the gap and onto the ledge outside. From the ground two storeys doesn't seem that high. I've never liked heights. The door handle shakes meaning they're trying to get in. I cross jumping off the list and shuffle along the ledge to another open window and crawl in. There are shouts from my flat and I turn to find a woman and child staring at me in shock. I am literally speechless and just give a quick smile and run. I shoot down the stairs and out onto the street. I know all to well I don't have enough time to think so I take off down the street towards where I think the nearest airport is.

I can hear them shouting behind me in strong Chicago accents which makes me judge whether or not they are with Them. Either way, they're here to kill me. I pull out my gun just in case and skid round a corner and down an alley. A pistol goes off several times behind me and I dive behind a large trash can, swearing repeatedly in my head.

"Nice one Nat. This is what happens when you get distracted." I hiss at myself and shoot back at them. I hit one in the shoulder and he screams. This is my chance. I leap on the other and flip him to the floor noticing the SHIELD patch on his arm. The same emblem which has been bugging me for the past 12 hours. There seems to be a certain man I need to find.

* * *

Clint

I can feel someone behind me.

"Barton get up. You're coming home now." Agent Hill orders like a strict mother. I wake up and roll over to see her not looking happy at all. I sit up and glance around. Still on the roof in Budapest then? Suddenly I jump up.

"How long have I been here?" I cry noticing Natasha's apartment across the street is definitely empty.

"You we're daydreaming for about 2 hours, fell asleep at 1 in the morning just before Black Widow left and we drugged you for 6 hours when we arrived at 7am." She shrugs pulling me up. We? I glance over her shoulder at another woman, who is obviously not a field agent, sat at a laptop.

"She could be anywhere by now!" I yell grabbing my stuff and making for the fire escape.

"We've just sent two agents to her flat in Berlin half an hour ago." She shrugs in reply. I'm already gone though. Airport, Berlin. I repeat in my head. These people are going to kill her. And Fury is going to kill me for this. If Hill doesn't get there first.

I sleep on the plane too, using a fake passport, which makes me realise the lack of sleep I've had. The plane lands and I'm off through the airport and towards Natasha's flat. I hop off a bus just before the flat and instantly hear gunshots. I follow the sounds to an alleyway a few blocks down just in time to see her whack one man over the falls to the floor.

"Nat!" I yell at her. An overwhelming feeling that it's my job to protect her washes over me. She looks over in shock and smiles when she sees me.

"A little help Hawkeye?" She calls obviously figuring out who I am. I nod once at her and pull out my bow. I have missed it these past few days. I shoot an arrow at the smaller of the two agents hitting his neck and knocking him out with a brown gas. She grabs the other one's arm and twists it behind his back. He cries out at this and press another arrow to his shoulder, electrocuting him. Natasha drops him when he goes limp and we look at each other. She looks so delicate yet i just watched her take out two men with ease. "Yes." She says simply. I pause before I realise what she's talking about. SHIELD's got themselves a new assassin.

"Good." I reply grinning like an idiot inside and follow her out back onto the main street where Hill is standing looking extremely pissed off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: Thank you for favouriting and following this to those who have. It means a lot. I'm getting through these as fast as possible while I can so please read and review. Also if you have any comments on how I portray the characters I don't mind taking constructive criticism. Thank you!**

**- Avalon**

* * *

Natasha

SHIELD headquarters is huge. I follow Agent Hill who seems to know Clint to a meeting room. Director Fury doesn't seem to like me. No one really seems to trust me but it's not like I was expecting them to. There is a large glass table in the centre of the room when we arrive. Hill points at an empty seat next to a very worried Clint and goes to sit at her own chair. Clint smiles at me when I arrive and I can't help returning it.

"Hey." Comes a voice from the other side of me that kind of breaks the mood. I turn to see Tony Stark slouching on his chair looking bored. A woman next to him elbows him sharply.

"Pepper, Hi. This is Tony." She greets and shakes my hand.

"Hi, Natasha." I introduce with a fake smile but she doesn't notice. People file into the meeting room and last comes Director Fury. Clint tenses beside me when he send a glare our way.

"Firstly SHIELD is trying to handle two very different cases of which we could do with some help. Dr Banner has been lost from our trackers so we could do with any extra help to search for him, generally from the surveillance department. However we are beginning to put together a recovery team to get him when we do find him. As you know Captain America has recently been found and we are sending a squad to check out the area for anything else that may be left of our interest." He briefs to the room of highly ranked agents. I glance around the room. It's not like the Soviet Union. Agents are logging in the information to tablets and whispering between themselves. The whole atmosphere is more free. I chuckle to myself when I see Clint with a stern game face on and Stark behind him slouched with his feet on the table. This was something different, and I liked it.

"Onto other matters, we are here to discuss what to do with our new operative. Miss Romanoff." He announces as he sits down at one end of the table. Nearly every agent at the table looks at me at this point. I keep my face expressionless and unfazed. "Does anyone have any idea's" He asks but it sounds more of a challenge. No one speaks for a while as Fury scans the table.

"I do Fury." offers a man directly opposite me. He gives Clint a smile before standing up to pitch his idea. By the way Clint relaxes I register this man as a friend. "Since Agent Barton brought Agent Romanoff to us I feel she should be put into Strike Team Delta where he can manage her." The man says. Clint frowns. I feel like an object that has to be taken care of. Fury seems to consider it.

"Thank you agent Coulson. Anyone object to this?" He nods and the man sits down. No one says anything. "Okay then. Miss Romanoff will be initiated into Strike Team Delta with Agent Barton. Dismissed." He concludes. "Agent Philips and Agent Stonebridge a word." He adds and lets the rest of us leave.

Clint stops me just outside the meeting room and grins at me.

"Welcome to SHIELD Agent Romnoff." He says. I can't help smiling back. "Want to get that glass of Vodka now?" He asks. I raise an eyebrow but nod. Someone clears her throat behind us.

"We need to take a blood test tomorrow Black Widow so I strongly recommend against that." Agent Hill points out. "And Welcome." She adds kindly and goes off to lecture another agent about something on her clipboard.

"After the blood test." I whisper to Clint. He nods mischievously and we head for the break room further down the grey corridors.

* * *

Clint

I wink at Coulson on the way out. That was so genius even Stark wouldn't have come up with it. I watch her walk in front of me and smile to myself. Right now, things didn't seem that bad.

Three days later I'm sat in our briefing room staring at Hill. Did she really just say that?

"Budapest?" Agent Philips chokes who has turned out to be the woman who was with Hill when I woke up on the roof last week.

"Wait, we're being sent back there? Why?" Natasha asks clearly confused.

"There are several Soviet agents there causing riots around the city. Probably a plan to get Agent Romanoff out into the open." Hill explains casually.

"So you decided that we'd be the best for the job?" I scoff and slump back into the chair.

"They want Black Widow. If you go we could draw them off the scene." Hill shrugs and turns on the large screen behind her. I glance at Natasha who isn't giving anything away. "I want Clint and Natasha on field work. Ariana and Jamie, we've found a safe house on the outskirts for the computer work." They nod from down the table. "All we know is one agent Alik Baranski is close relatives with one of our double agents, as you could say, and she has informed us that he owns a flat on the main high street above an Italian restaurant called Salsa pizzeria." She briefs. I register that in my head. "Your flight leave in 4 hours. There are files in the jet." And with that she leaves. Ariana Philips sits up and passes out coms units.

"We'll set up when we find the safe house. Hawkeye, find a nest. Black Widow..." She trails off not knowing Natasha's style like the rest of our team. I give Nat a reassuring smile knowing how out of place she must feel.

"I'll take out Baranski, old friend, get this stuff out of him and then we can get our plans together." Natasha finishes for her. Jamie and Ariana exchange a look.

"Okay. Hawkeye get your first nest near Baranski's apartment. I'll camp outback in case something happens." She corrects herself. Jamie nods and starts away on his laptop.

"I'll set up the safe house. Mind bugging the flat when you're there Widow. That way when his colleagues come to get him I can find their faces." Jamie nods. Natasha takes the miniscule cameras with a slight frown, not used to working in a team. He stands and begins talking gadgets with Ariana. Under the table I squeeze Natasha's hand. She looks up and grins. She doesn't speak but I can tell she's looking forward to this.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: So we're back in Budapest and Natasha has just been dropped into a quite close knit team sorting out some of her 'Old Friends'. Again thank you to all those following and favouriting this story. It's really nice to know you enjoy this. Please read and review. Much more action here and there's more of a feel of how the team works because I feel it's a big part of Clint and Natasha's story.**

* * *

Clint

I find my first nest and set up my sniper rifle. Two streets away Nat is walking confidently into the block of flats.

"She's in." I whisper to Philps over the coms unit. There is clicking on one of the other ends, most likely Stonebridge's.

"Scaling the south-west side of the building." Ariana Philips updates. Jamie clicks away. I can see Natasha as she passes each window on the way up. "Opening kitchen window of the apartment beside Baranski's. You got that Widow? Quick escape route. The door's unlocked too." She adds. At the next window Nat gives me a thumbs up.

"She's got that." I confirm.

"Okay Widow. He's asleep. Safe to enter." Jamie briefs. I shuffle left a bit to see better into the hallway. "Set up a camera in the hallway outside and in the lounge."

"First camera's up in the hallway. There's a code on the door, Stonebridge." Natasha whispers back. He gives a noise meaning he's thinking about it and I hear more typing on two lines.

"164823, Widow." Ariana replies for him. I see Nat bend down and punch in the code. A small green light flashes and she opens the door softly.

"She's in." I nod and shift left again to see through the window into the lounge. She sets up another camera and looks at me. "Camera two is up Stonebridge." I tell him.

"Yep." Jamie replies clicks once to turn the camera on. "Okay, Widow the kitchen is on the left the bedroom on the right. Get a camera up in the kitchen and in the other three corners of the lounge. Then we're onto business." He tells her." Nat makes a quiet confirming sound.

"Lounge cameras up." I tell him. "Kitchen camera up." I update as she plants the almost invisible cameras. Nat leave the kitchen towards the bedroom. "She's on your side now Philips." I add.

"Got that Hawk. Stonebridge has temporarily turned of his com. You're free to go Widow." She confirms knowing very well that Jamie doesn't like witnessing or hearing any assassinations. Nat starts muttering quickly to Baranski in russian and I only catch the odd word or two. She gradually gets louder, Baranski obviously has woken up at this point. He cries out and she suddenly stops muttering and he stops yelling. A silence drifts over the communication frequency.

"Old friends huh?" Ariana breaks the silence. "Stonebridge? You back yet?" She asks.

"Yep." He replies. "Okay put up a camera in there, a tracker on the Rolex watch on the man's arm and get out before anyone comes." he says. I see Nat exit the apartment and out through the escape route Ariana set up.

"You okay Widow?" Philips asks her. "Right, let's get out of here then." She adds and after a few seconds I see them come out of the back alley beside the building. They jump at a gunshot a while off.

"Riots." I tell them. They relax a bit and Nat puts her pistol away again.

"Meet you back at the safe house Hawk." Ariana says into her com looking up at me before she catches up with Nat further down the road.

"You might want to speed it up guys. Some big man has just entered the apartment." Stonebridge tells laughs. "I knew he'd take the watch. You owe me 10 dollars Ari." Philips gives an unimpressed 'hmph' as she runs down the road.

* * *

Natasha

I sit up suddenly, there's a sharp pain in my temple and I instinctively scan the room to find someone who's come for me. There's no one there. I look at Ariana but she's still sleeping. In an attempt to ease the pain a press a hand to my forehead and get up.

I stroll into the living room and can hear Jamie clicking away in his and Clint's room.

"Hey, Nat." Clint greets from behind me on the sofa making me jump. I turn to face him and grin. "What's up?" He asks after a bit, noticing the hand on my temple.

"Headache." I shrug and sit down beside him. I realise just how cold it is. There's several gunshots from a machine gun outside and some screams. I glance at Clint and throw open the window. Further down the road closer to the centre of town is a scattered mob of hooded figures with all kinds of amateur weapons. "Clint? Have you seen this?" I ask just as Ariana and Jamie emerged from their bedrooms looking extremely tired.

"What was that?" She shouts running up beside Clint and I. A petrol station explodes into flames down the road and people are shooting aimlessly. "Stage two of our mission then guys." She nods at Jamie who is still holding his laptop. We crowd round the coffee table where he sets up his things.

"The man who came for Baranski yesterday was Fransikov Rustig. Brother of a Polish drug dealer SHIELD had all too many files on. He's rumoured to be the one selling weapons to the rioters according to Anastasia, Baranski's first cousin on his father's side." Jamie reads off the screen. Another explosion goes off outside followed by terrified screams. He looks at Ariana who I have guessed is the one who normally comes up with the strategies for this team.

"Okay, we'll start tomorrow at dawn. Hawkeye, find where Rustig is working. Anastasia Baranski has a house out the side of the city we suspect him to be with a high roof according to this." She brief, gesturing to the map on the laptop. "Widow I want you to find where the main players in this are staying. Here's some files on suspects." She passes three thick files towards me. "I'll plan out an infiltration to the group doing this. Destroy it from the inside. Jamie get some support to be here by tomorrow evening. Get this over and done with so we can go home right. Remember guys, we're trying to stop a civil war breaking out here." She orders and disappears off into our bedroom.

"This is actually quite eye-opening." I comment quietly to Clint. He smirks and grabs his bow.

"Better get reading Nat." He taunts pointing at the huge files I'm holding. I pull a face at him and he winks in return before I follow Ariana into our bedroom to start my hours of reading ahead.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: It's so amazing to see how many are reading my fanfiction, it means so much and I am so thankful to those who are following this and have favourited it. Again leave a review because I'd love some advice from the readers to know where you want me to take my story next.**

**- Avalon**

* * *

Natasha

Ariana and Jamie are back at the safe house catching up on research to take down this pointless plot. Clint is humming The Killers over the comms unit from the Baranski's house.

"Okay Nat. Test, how do you get past guard hounds?" He asks. I frown to myself as I survey the badly damaged home to find clues about where Saul Wilhelm has scuttled away to.

"Clint? Why would you need to know that?" I reply cautiously. He chuckles to himself.

"Let's just say Baranski's cousin's house is a little more enforced than we expected." He says eventually clicking his tongue in thought. I pull a face that's a mix between confusion and sarcasm.

"Good luck with tha-" I'm cut off by a loud crackling on the other end."Clint?" I ask but there's no reply. I punch in Philip's number into my phone and run towards the Baranski house, meaning I have to run through the danger zone in the centre of the city. Jamie answer's her phone. "Hawk's gone offline at the Baranski house. I going over there now, can you get any camera's up in that area?" I pant as I get to the first road that has begun to break out into civil war. Two groups of around ten men each are firing at each other from barricades they've constructed from sandbags and the urgency of our mission hits me.

"Got one but I can detect thousands on that estate alone. It seems to be extremely secure. Something tells me they've probably found Clint." He replies and I hear them packing up through the phone.

"There's fighting breaking out in the centre of the city. probably meaning there's a civil war on the horizon. We need to get Clint and find the Soviet agents fueling this. The government can deal with the rest." I tell him and hangs up. A grenade goes off behind me sending me rolling to the ground along with a shattered window. I duck behind another barricade and run along the line of the buildings. 'Just like Libya' I think to myself as a fire lights up a shop window.

I dive behind a barricade as a grenade blows up at my feet. I duck down a side alley and stop for a second to catch my breath.

"Widow? I thought you'd never turn up." A gruff voice taunts from a back door to a shop, I spin to see the very man I've been trying to track. "You gone and hid away at SHIELD then, traitor." He spits. I glare back at him, hatred boiling up in my stomach.

"Saul." I smile. "Long time no see. I see you're having a great time cowering away in this beautiful city." I reply sarcastically. He growls in the back of his throat and draws out a dagger. I pull out my own hidden knife. "I'd love to stay and chat but I've got something to attend to." I tease dodging his punch. He lashes at me with the knife but I dodge that one too. This man was large and strong but slow and I was small and fast. I swipe at his forearm and hop behind him, planting a tracker, before shooting off. "This was nice, let's do it again some time." I call back. It doesn't take me long to realise how that was such a Clint thing to say.

Another bomb threatens my life but I press on. I've never trusted double agents. Clint's life is in my hands now and I have no intention of letting it go.

* * *

Clint

I lean away from the knife a guard is pointing at my neck. They've tied up my wrists and ankles so I can't move and gagged me. A woman no older than Natasha walks in and signals to the guards to back away. She switches on the light and pulls off my gag.

"Who are you with spy?" She scowls and starts to paces the small basement, her footsteps echoing around the small space. Two things I hate, being underground and being in tight spaces.

"SHIELD, Miss Baranski. I am not here to spy on you but more just to... use your roof." I reply realising how stupid it sounds. At this she stops pacing and looks at me closely. There's a pause as she scans me. Her deep green eyes remind me of Natasha. Her whole demeanour screams it. And I must be going mad from it because I see a flash of red out the one small window and Nat springs to mind again. The woman's harsh tones draw me back and in a way I am grateful.

"Hawkeye, pleased to meet you. Let him go."She orders a backs towards the door just in case. I nod my thanks. "I should have known that with all these riots SHIELD'd be involved." She sighs and I follow her upstairs into a fancy lounge. "What are you here for though? I've already let you kill my cousin." She asks obviously not too happy about what we did.

"Simply to set up a temporary base on top of your house. It's the perfect place." I shrug and take the cup of tea her waiter offers me but don't drink it. She nods slowly and gets up.

"Fine, Henry show him to the roof. Tell Fury next time you see him that I am not liking this attitude that you can just walk into my house and expect to camp out on my estate whilst I'm meant to be on a break from all this." She says gesturing to the pile of weapon's in the hall that they must have taken off me. I go to get them but she stops me and passes over my communications unit. "They rest I keep as compensation." She tells me. I watch her stern eyes intently. There's a silence before I lunge for my bow. She flips me at a speed I've never met before and plucks the comms unit off me again. "Tie him up again." She sighs and throws the ear piece out the window. I swear loudly before they replace my gag back around my jaw and the guards force my hands behind my back again.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note: We are on a roll here. Six chapters in 3 days, wow. Anyway this one's a bit more Clintasha-y so please read and review but most of all enjoy.

- Avalon

* * *

Natasha

I sprint down the road and see the large mansion. Even at this distance I can see the security around the grounds, and I thought I was paranoid. I made a slow job of getting past the wall but eventually I drop down the other side, landing lightly. I slip behind a perfectly trimmed hedge and sneak further into the grounds. I am still surprised at the number of guards patrolling the area. My breathing becomes quicker as I attempt to stay silent. A guard begins to make his way over and I decide to go old school by lying down in a small shrub. After he's gone I crawl out, my hair catching on some twigs.

I test the main door and it seems unlocked. There's a shout from inside and I'm vaguely sure it was Clint. I push open the door and look at the scene. Clint's tied up and gagged, several armed guards are restraining him and a woman I can see resembles Baranski is stood over it all. They each look up when I arrive but rather than shock Clint's is swept over with relief.

"Black Widow. Have I missed an invite to a reunion." She laughs and gestures to the men to get me too. I taser the first and punch the second in the face. The third catches me with a formal sword that's probably part of his uniform and I kick out and hit him in the chest. As he rolls to the ground the sword slits the back of my calf. He gets to his feet and I shoot him in the hand, so it hurts but doesn't kill him. He stumbles back holding his hand to his chest. The fourth punches at the same shoulder and I hiss in pain before knocking him out over the head with the butt of my gun. I slash the thick ropes binding Clint's wrists and duck another incoming sword attack. Clint pulls his legs free and pulls me out the way of a bullet that shoots through a painting on the wall. He whacks the last guard over the head and turns to Anastasia. There's a pause before she throws him his bow.

He scoops an arm around me and helps me limp out. Anastasia stands at the door and says something dismissive into an earpiece.

"Tell Fury I am not happy with this." She calls after us breaking into her russian accent. Clint gives her a thumbs up and we stumble out the gate onto the road. He sets me down at the side and falls beside me breathing heavily. He cuts a strip off his jacket and ties it round the wound on my leg. I dial Ariana's number again.

"Hello?" She asks. I can hear a car engine in the background.

"Mind picking us up?" I ask glancing at my leg. She laughs and says something to who I presume is Jamie.

"Yep we're on our way." She confirms and the motor in the background revs up. She laughs. "Be there in a second." She adds and hangs up. I turn to Clint who's rubbing the rope burn on his wrists. I give a 'thank God we're alive' smile to him. He chuckles and picks a leaf out of my hair. He reaches for another one but doesn't get further than my cheek and runs his hand down my jaw line. There's a loud car beep from down the road and we jump up. A police car skids to a halt in front of us and Jamie throws open the door.

"Hurry up, we almost ran over a group of rioters and they don't seem all to happy." He shouts. We hop in the back and He tears off down the road making a loop out and around the city. Ariana is laughing as we bomb down the torn up ring road swerving around what I think was a sheep. We we're going to fast to distinguish.

"Stonebridge! You're worse than an Italian taxi driver!" Clint yells as we slide round a corner back into the city and I'm thrown into him. He catches me before my shoulder slams into him. "You okay?" He asks checking my leg. I nod and he grins back. The car swerves again and we're thrown back to my side. He stops himself crashing into me again and laughs.

"You okay back there guys?" Ariana teases making a blush begin to creep across Clint's face. I scream as we're thrown back the other way again and I fall into him. Ariana glances back and whispers something to Jamie. He swerves again and she cracks up. "Having fun?" She asks. Clint rolls his eyes and I smile at him reassuringly.

* * *

Clint

When we got back Jamie started up trying to find a tracking device Natasha had stuck on one of our targets on the way to get me.

"Back up can't be here for two days. The airports have slowed the amount of flights in and out because of the riots." Ariana reads from the computer screen. I glance sideways at Natasha cleaning a large cut, which I must have got in the mansion, on my back. She nods and then puts down the swath dipped in antiseptic.

"Now it's your turn Nat. You patch me up, I patch you up." I grin. She collapses onto the sofa beside me and rolls up her leggings. I set her leg on my knee and unwrap the old bandage. The cut is beginning to clear and I dab it with antiseptic before bandaging it up again. "Any other injuries I should know about?" I ask feeling over protective of her. She sighs and pulls down the collar of her top to show another bruised cut. I get up and set her leg back on the cushion carefully. this one isn't as deep as the other one and it should have took a lot shorter a time than it did. Mainly because every few minutes her hair would fall back down from behind her ear and I would get mesmerised by it until someone spoke or a gun shot sounded from outside.

When I'm done she hops off to her room to rest. I sprawl out across the sofa and sigh deeply.

"You okay there lovebird?" Ariana asks and passes a map to Jamie. I look up in shock and frown at her. She answers the question in my head. "Woman's intuition, we can tell when someone likes someone else, it's in our blood, but we can't tell if someone we like likes us back." She says gesturing at the door to Natasha's bedroom. I groan and throw my head back onto the armrest. She laughs and a map lands on me.

"Pick a roof in the area selected, Clint." Jamie tells me and I open it to find even our computer whiz has a sense of humour. The area selected just happens to be in the shape of a heart. I roll my eyes and I shuffle of to bed. They're just cracking up behind me.

"Stop being immature guys." I tell them. Jamie shrugs apologetically. Ariana just pulls a face.

"I'll talk to her for you Hawk." Ariana offers. I give a 'thank you' nod and Jamie whispers something to her. She glances back at me and laughs.

"It's not funny." I groan like a small child and flop onto my bed forgetting the wound on my back and swearing under my breath. The swearing wasn't only because of the cut. Nat had just managed to compromise me, again...


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Cute ending of their Budapest story here. Not sure whether to leave it as it is and make a sequel or to continue this fic. It also feels like a nice time to finish and make a sequel because this just hit 1,000 views! Thanks to all those who have followed and favourited this and I hope you all enjoyed it. It's over to quickly. :( Read and Review I hope you all like the sweet moment at the end to round it all off. xx Unfortunately in whatever comes next they'll only be a double team which is sad because Ariana and Jamie were really starting to grow on me.**

**- Avalon**

* * *

Natasha

I hop out of the police car they had stolen and look up at the roof of a building further down the road. I make out a thumbs up on Clint's part through the early evening twilight. I'm used to working alone so I'm nervous for this assassination. If just one thing goes wrong here my life could be at stake.

I take a deep breath in as the autumn chill pinches at my bare arms and simply ring the doorbell. As expected Saul opens the door. He cackles loudly and another man I recognise from the files I read yesterday morning joins him.

"Finally came crawling back from SHIELD Widow?" He asks sharply and shouts back to another man to call 'the boss'. The man beside him, I remember was called Francesco Diaz, grabs my by the arm and pulls me inside the dark hideaway. The first thing I realise is it smelt...Horrible, the second thing was that there were others here too. Over my comms unit I hear Clint running and Jamie driving and Ariana breathing heavily as she climbs the wall to sneak in through the back window. They continue to taunt me but I ignore them and I don't reply. Saul throws me onto a chair and one of his gang hold me down. "Listen to me when I'm talking to you traitor." He snarls. I silently wish for Clint to hurry up.

"I am listening idiot. I'm just choosing to ignore you." I reply sarcastically. In a way SHIELD is a bad influence because I probably would have thought before I said that if I was still with the Soviet. There's a growl from the back of his throat. He hits me with the butt of a rifle in the temple and my vision becomes blurred. A window smashes and there's a shout from above. I see Clint drop down in front of me and I black out.

* * *

Clint

I watch her enter the agent's den and she glances up at me. I begin to make my way towards the run down building. I can hear Natasha's breath on the speaker and I pick up speed. Natasha hisses back at one of the guards and I hear her cry out. I smash the skylight at the top of the building jump down and crash through the poorly built floor into the room below. I shoot the man standing over her limp body and flip another. Stonebridge is at the front door in seconds followed by Ariana at the other exit to a back room. With no escape the small room soon becomes a blood bath. Past a large hooded man I watch Philips stab Francesco Diaz, a man suspected to be selling drugs to the rioters, in the forehead with a hidden blade in the cuff of her jacket sleeve. Stonebridge gets one in a headlock and places a cloth over his mouth and nose. The man falls limp and he drops him to the ground with the rest of his colleagues. I pull out an arrow and press it through the heart of the man standing before me.

I turn to see the last gang member pulling out a gun and pointing it at Natasha's unconscious body. He growls something in russian and my world freezes. I wrench the arrow out of the man at my feet and shoot it through the last agent's temple, knocking him off target. The bullet shatters the wooden chair in the centre of the room and I fall at Natasha's side, pulling her into my arms.

"Nat? Nat wake up." I whisper anxiously. Stonebridge unfolds a medical kit across the blood splattered floorboards and Ariana checks her pulse.

"She's alive." She sighs in relief and sits back letting Jamie clean the wound on her temple. I squeeze her hand and feel either a teardrop or blood trickle down my cheek.

"Tasha?" I ask shivering with fear that after all this she could be taken from me. A series of shots sound outside and I know the riots have come to us. Stonebridge pours a cup of clean water over her wound to wash it out and her eyes flutter open. I let out a breath which I hadn't realised I was holding and throw my arms around me. I turn to Ariana. "Next time someone is bate it's you." I tell her, relief washing over me. She nods in agreement and smiles at Natasha. A loud bomb goes off outside blowing half the room off and covering us in dust.

The rebels outside start to shoot at us. I swear and duck behind the remains of what was the wall.

"Cover me! I'll go get the car." Jamie yells and sprints out from his hiding place down the alley beside our building. Ariana fires at the group and three of them fall.

"We'll split up. We'll have a better chance of getting back to the main road with less on our tail. There's no need to take out all of them. Once we're gone it's the government's problem. We just need to get out of the country." She orders us and points us down the road in one direction before running in the other. Nat pulls me up and half-drags me down the road. Some of them start firing aimlessly our way and I pull her behind an overturned taxi.

"You okay Tasha?" I check. She nods in reply and we stand up to return fire. We take out two of them before Natasha looks at me.

"You know what Barton!" She yells over the deafening noise. "One day we'll look back at this and laugh." She tells me. I give her a frown and send an arrow in the direction of the rebels. We dive behind the safety of the taxi as it blows up sending pieces of shrapnel our way. I laugh.

"You're kidding me right?" I scoff. She rolls her eyes and shoot down the road before heading off toward a turn off down to the main road. I follow her sending another exploding arrow down the road for good measure. We skid onto the main road but, surprisingly it's deserted except for a near to broken down cop car and Ariana limping towards it with a hand clutching her stomach. I send Nat a look having to actively suppress the urge to wipe the drop of blood off her forehead. We jump in the car, me in the front and Natasha attempting to heal the bullet wound in Ariana's stomach. We take a quick stop at the safe house to bandage up Ariana's injury tightly and grab our stuff and get out of the city that was quickly becoming a hell hole.

The airport is as good as new compared to where we just came from. Jamie hacks into the computers organising a private jet to arrive in 4 hours from a SHIELD base in Marseilles, France. We slip through security without the usual looks because of the riots. We get to the airport gate and collapse onto the waiting area falls asleep instantly opposite me and Natasha. Jamie stares out the window on the phone to Fury.

"Well done Hawk. Another successful mission." Nat smiles at me and wipes the blood off my arms. Not much of it is mine which is always a good sign. I nod back. "How's your back?" She checks. I chuckle to myself.

"Fine, Tasha. How's your leg?" I reply. She shrugs and sits back down beside me and I finally get the opportunity to wipe the droplet of red on her forehead.

"A little sore but otherwise fine." She replies and props her leg up on the seat beside her and leans back into me.

* * *

Natasha

I am woken gently. It's freezing and pitch black outside. I can see some SHIELD agents helping Ariana onto the plane. Jamie is briefing Fury on our mission and that all the Soviet agents fueling riots we're gone. I look up to see Clint, also half asleep looking down at me. I yawn and stand up. He catches me before I turn for the plane.

"We're a team now Nat. I promise I'll be there for you." He whispers mischievously. I take this in with a frown but soon return his secretive grin. I hold up a pinky finger.

"And me for you, promise." I agree. He locks his own finger with mine and there's a mutual trusts vowed between us from now on. We turn for the plane together and take our seats beside our team mates. I put my legs up on his knees and look at the rest of our team, who look just as exhausted and battered as us.

"So where to next?" I smile at them. Ariana shakes her head and laughs.

"Doctor says that I can't go out on field work again for a few months." She explains gesturing to the bandage around her torso.

"I think I'll stay in the office from now on." Jamie shrugs, not fond of the danger that comes with field work. I nod in agreement.

"I guess the fantastic four has to become the dynamic duo." Clint sighs. I know he's been working with his team for a while now and from what I've seen back in Budapest they're quite close. "We'll be missing you then." He smiles and shakes Jamie's hand and carefully hugs Ariana minding the injury. I say my good byes too at the hangar back in SHIELD headquarters.

"What's our next mission, my partner in crime." I joke he runs a hand through his hair.

"A well deserved rest for a week I hope." He replies with a laugh and hangs an arm around me. I lean into him as we walk into the private quarters of the aircraft carrier.

"Or we could go for a drink first." I offer. He looks down at me with a grin.

"Vodka?" He asks. I can't help laughing at that.

"Vodka it is." I confirm. "We should make a tradition of this, Hawk." I tell him as we turn another corridor towards the bar area.

"We should Widow. Vodka and a rest. I could live with that." He agrees and gives me a squeeze. I smile to myself and stop him. I kiss him on the lips quickly. He looks shocked and then kisses me back one more time a little longer. When we pull away I look into his eyes. He doesn't have to say anything, neither of us do. Compromised was all his eyes said.


End file.
